Child doesn't celebrate Halloween

[Rickers83]

Hi,
I'm a newly registered childminder & one of the children I mind after school is a devout Christian and doesn't acknowledge Halloween, they said its s devil worshipping festival and won't be a part of it?!
As a family I alway decorate our house and do a spooky themed dinner at Halloween.
How do I approach this in the respects of equal opportunities etc?
Thanks

[mama2three]

I must admit to not being a Halloween fan either - we tend to do mini-themes looking at pumpkins , making soup etc - or spiders - something related vaguely to Halloween but that's all.

As I see it I do cover say Diwali in my planning etc......Its not about 'promoting' it , more to show that some children around the world celebrate it. We are learning about it not celebrating it if that makes sense ...something we ought to be doing as practitioners. So you could explain this to parents.

Alternatively could you only have decs etc up as a family for the one day...and give parents the option of taking the day off? And cover less 'full on' activities in the run up?

[Rickers83]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
That was the route I was thinking of going, as you say when it is Chinese New Year etc I will do an activity around it but not 'celebrate' it as such.
I mainly asked as they said they will have nothing to do with it so wasn't sure where I stood if I went ahead and planned for example pumpkin decorating etc

[charlottenash]

I have the same issue, parents are happy for their child to do arts and crafts but don't want anything Halloween related being sent home. I feel a bit cruel letting him make lovely things and not sending them, but we will make a point of putting them somewhere special in our house :)

[loocyloo]

I'm not mad about Halloween, but its everywhere and so I feel its better to do a little bit about it, rather than ignore it, and as mama2three says ... its not promoting Halloween, its exploring celebrations from around the world , just like diwalli, hannukah etc.

I always make sure that we talk about All Souls day ( 2nd nov ) being the day to remember those who have died, and All Saints ( All Hallows ) day ( 1st nov ) to remember those people who have died and also we remember those who are alive ( and do wonderful things ). we also talk about All Hallow's Eve also being known as Halloween being the name of the party where we remember those who have died and have a party ( and for the older ones say that people dress up and put 'scary' things around so that those who have died see we are happy and don't come back /we dress up so they can't find us ( ?! ) ... have to word it a bit differently and I've possibly got it a bit muddled over time! exactly what I say depends upon the children!

I'm a Christian too, and with a little change on the focus, don't mind too much on having a party. a couple of years ago we turned it into a scoobydoo party! we do decorate the house and have a little scary tea! personally I prefer it when Halloween falls at the weekend and I don't have to consider mindees! its in half term this year, and i'll only have my LO, so won't do a great deal at all!

[kellyskidz!]

Oooooh I LOVE Halloween!
Got loads of ideas planned and the kids and parents are so excited
Such a shame but you do have to respect parents wishes and not celebrate it. Maybe do it on a day they're not in?
Or maybe you can have an 'Autumn party' instead, wear autumn colours, have leaves tied to string as bunting, have squirrel biscuits, and autumn coloured balloons and banners, decorate with pine cones and have conker rolling games, an autumn cake with choc decorations etc. could be fun for everyone then xx

[yummyripples]

Oh god it would kill me not to do Halloween.
I think they should have told you this before they signed up with you tbh. I think they should also understand that you do celebrate it and then they can decide what to do. We celebrate everything in our house. I have a family who are Jewish but happily join in my Xmas celebrations and we join in with other religions special days.
Perhaps turn it into a monster or ugly bug ball

[FussyElmo]

Halloween and Christians | Can a christian celebrate halloween | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (http://carm.org/halloween)

This is a good article about whether or not a Christian should celebrate Halloween or not.

I think you need to take these parents views into consideration but how you do that is up to you. I would be talking to them asking them what exactly their concerns are and could you work around them. If not and it is important to you to celebrate Halloween you could always ask them to find alternative care to the day :)

[freckleonear]

I am a Christian, I do not celebrate Halloween and would not want my children involved in it at all. I have no issue with pumpkin and other autumnal crafts though that aren't directly related to Halloween.

[Simona]

More than celebrating it is to do with awareness and respecting other cultures and making children aware of what other people celebrate
It is part of the EYFS Specific area: Understanding the World.

[dawn100]

It is a tricky one, I personally am not a fan of Halloween for a number of reasons, I don't like trick or treating- the rest of the year we tell kids not to take sweets from strangers but its ok to knock on a strangers house for sweets at Halloween and then if they don't give you any throw flour/eggs (it's not just the teenagers but also small children with their parents) Some of the costumes are quite distrurbing you look how tesco and asda crossed the line this year with the mental health paitent and psycho outfits.
I do autumn activities like pumpkin carving or making spiders and spiders webs but steer clear from anything scary like witches or devils.

You say you do a spooky themed dinner not quite sure what you mean by this but could you offer this child an alternative? Just like you wouldn't expect a Muslim child to eat pork and if a parent feels that a spooky themed meal is worshipping the devil then you can't force the child to eat that meal. (Hope that makes sense)
I think you need to chat to the parent and explain what you normally do and why you do it and any alternatives you could offer for their child.

[mumof3]

If you actually look into Halloween it is absolutely nothing to do with devil worship. We are supposed to celebrate all different cultures and religions I'm not Hindu but I still celebrate their festival with the children and other religious festivals!!

[freckleonear]

It's one thing to celebrate different cultures and religions, but by not making arrangements for non-participating children surely that is disrespecting their own family's religious beliefs? As a parent, I would be absolutely furious if my children were involved in any kind of Halloween celebrations against my wishes. If you want the child to learn to respect other cultures, then as professionals we need to respect their culture too! I don't see it as any different to not feeding a Jewish/Muslim child pork.

[lizduncan72]

It's one thing to celebrate different cultures and religions, but by not making arrangements for non-participating children surely that is disrespecting their own family's religious beliefs? As a parent, I would be absolutely furious if my children were involved in any kind of Halloween celebrations against my wishes. If you want the child to learn to respect other cultures, then as professionals we need to respect their culture too! I don't see it as any different to not feeding a Jewish/Muslim child pork.

Totally agree :)

[Simona]

It's one thing to celebrate different cultures and religions, but by not making arrangements for non-participating children surely that is disrespecting their own family's religious beliefs? As a parent, I would be absolutely furious if my children were involved in any kind of Halloween celebrations against my wishes. If you want the child to learn to respect other cultures, then as professionals we need to respect their culture too! I don't see it as any different to not feeding a Jewish/Muslim child pork.

There is a difference, in my view, between making children aware of other cultures and celebrations so encouraging respect in diversity and making them participate?

I don't think anyone has spoken of forcing children to take part in anything their families do not wish them to be part of but we also have to consider those families who want the celebrations acknowledged...

a delicate balance that cms will address appropriately in their planning I feel!!

[Lottie]

You could call it a Celtic winter festival celebration instead?

[teacakepenguin]

I personally don't have a problem with halloween at all, but my eldest (now 14) used to be terrified as a toddler, so I've learned how you need to be really careful. Dressing up as witches, all those spiders, skeletons, ghosts, with a sensitive child it can be really hard. He used to dress up as a fireman instead of anything scary! As a result I've never really done anything much with my children, occasionally trick or treated to friends, we rarely get any here tho. Looking at the calendar I see it's half term when halloween falls, and my sister's just invited herself down for a sleepover with her kids, and as she's a jehovah's witness I'm pretty sure she won't be accompanying us if we go out trick or treating!!! I may have to put a shout out on fb to get people to visit us instead though.